The Challenge this round was to: Create 3 cards from 3 different sets from the same block. Use these cards to show the changes to the world as the story unfolds on your plane. You may use a new plane or one from a previous entry. Feel free to add a sentence or two about your plane.
Miraya, the Healing Light3WW
Legendary Creature - Angel (MR)
Flying
At the end of each turn, you gain life equal to the life you’ve lost this turn. (Damage causes lost of life.) "Of the angels who ruled before the Calamity, Miraya was the most loved. The mere sight of her alabaster wings would allay all pain and her touch would heal any wound"
-- The Writings of Witness Jeb
5/5
Set 2: Miraya's CallX2WW
Sorcery (R)
Choose up to X creature cards in your graveyard. For each card chosen this way, search your library for a creature card with the same name as that card and put it into play. Then shuffle your library. “All hope seemed lost, and yet Miraya refused to surrender. Answering her call, the mourners picked up the swords of their lost kin and rose to defend their homeland.”
— The Writing of Witness Jeb
Set 3: Miraya the Restorer3GG
Legendary Creature - Spirit (MR)
At the end of each turn, for each creature that was put into your graveyard from play this turn, you may put a creature card from your hand into play. “The deal was set. Miraya was no longer an angel, and Eldagone was no longer desolate.”
— The Writings of Witness Jeb
5/5
On the plane of Gauraina, the powerful have always gained influence by enslaving the weak. Over the millennia, sorcery and sheer terror reduced many inhabitants to hollow drones, but their ashen faces hide a long-growing plan for liberty.
Parthas, Grand Despot2GU
Legendary Creature - Beast Wizard (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a 0/1 colorless Drone creature token onto the battlefield. 1U, Sacrifice X Drones: Gain control of target creature with converted mana cost X or less. It becomes a Drone in addition to its other types. Mentally and physically imposing, Parthas’ cunning makes his coffers overflow with blood money.
3/4
Cunning Drone1B
Creature - Drone (U) T: Target attacking or blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn, and put a learning counter on Liberated Drone. Then, if there are two or more learning counters on Cunning Drone, transform it. As the drones broke their mental bonds, they had to grasp any skill they could to survive.
1/1
// Nameless Traprunner
(B) Creature - Drone Rogue (U)
Nameless Traprunner can’t be blocked. 1B, Remove a learning counter from Nameless Traprunner: Target attacking or blocking creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. "You allowed no identity to your slaves. Why do you ask who I am as you bleed?"
2/2
Seal Within Shards2RW
Sorcery (R)
For each player, exile target creature that player controls and each creature among creatures he or she controls that shares a creature type with it. Whether out of hatred for the drones or spite for the dominion they lost, the tyrants shattered Gauraina to seal themselves and their foes away.
Imperial Chinese-inspired setting of Shang from the early rounds. These cards show the top-down progression from a cultured and controlled Empire, through its collapse under the threats of rogue monks, necromancers, and barbarians, to the rise of powerful heroes among the common people.
Emperor's Banquet1WW
Enchantment (R)
Creatures can't attack. 1: Target player gains 1 life. Any player may activate this ability.
At the end of each player's turn, if that player didn't gain life this turn, sacrifice Emperor's Banquet.
Yuanren Outlander1G
Creature - Ape Barbarian (C) Invader - Whenever Yuanren Outlander attacks a player, if that player controls no lands that share a land type with a land you control, Yuanren Outlander gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn. "The wild howls of the ape men grow closer every day. Where are the Emperor's soldiers now?"
-Bao Fan, headman of Plum Mountain Village
2/2
Drunken LungeR
Instant (U)
Choose target creature you control and put the top card of your library into your graveyard. Drunken Lunge's effect depends on the converted mana cost of the card revealed this way.
0 - Return Drunken Lunge to its owner's hand.
1-2 - That creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
3-4 - That creature gains double strike until end of turn.
5+ - Until end of turn, that creature gains "T: This creature fights target creature."
Customary feedback for my honorable opponent's cards:
Parthas, Grand Despot - Mechanically it's a wonderful bomb to open, and a great tight design all the parts work well together, including the hefty body. This could work well for both control and aggressive builds and hints at immense synergy within your set. The best design of your submission. Flavorly, I have some trouble with the "beast wizard" part - races like Aven or Leonin gives you some notion as to how they are going to look like even without the art, so saying "cat wizard" means something to the reader. "Beast" is a generic Magic word for "monster" and so I don't get a good feel of the creature from your submission. I'm assuming the race of beasts are the oppressive rulers, but no image is evoked in my mind.
Cunning Drone // Nameless Traprunner - I don't know the tempo enough to say if this is ok or not. A control-ish deck basically gets a double removal attached to a creature, which seems to me a bit too powerful for a 2 drop. I don't feel the mechanical tie between the two parts of the cards, I kind of want them both to be two separate cards in a set than one card with transform. Flavourly it is the strongest card you've submitted, giving a good sense of how the Drone uprising comes to fruition. Thanks to your description of the plane, I have better idea what the Drones are, and so the complaint I had about the beast subtype doesn't apply here. One thing though - I feel that transform was already used in this CCL, and would have liked to see a new mechanic instead.
Seal Within Shards - Alas, your final card is also the most underwhelming. Firstly, I think red is not the right choice here, since black is more fitting to both the exile part and "every permanent with the same name" part. Secondly, this card feels redundant where Maelstrom Pulse and Detention Sphere exist. Yes, the pulse doesn't exile and the sphere dies to Ratchet Bomb but then they cost one less mana and won't cost you creature. multiplayer interactions are not enough to sway me, since it most likely just make you the most hated person on the table anyways. Lastly, the conclusion that this card hints at is a pretty bad way to end a story. I feel as though rather than giving us a view of the conclusion, you've given us either a cliffhanger or a glimpse at some other part of the story, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also, are you hinting that Gauraina is some prelude to Alara? if so, that's awesome, but it doesn't actually comes across as much as I'd like.
Overall - I feel like you've got a good story, but one that you could not convey through the cards. Your designs don't break anything, at least, but only one of them really wowed me. Still, I like where you went, Gauraina could be an interesting set to flesh out.
Emperor's Banquet - My this is broken. All it needs is two extra mana, and you're safe from attacks forever on a regular duel. This is a control deck's dream. You really want to eliminate the lifegain clause. Even withouth it, cards like Grove of the Burnwillows can keep this alive for a very long time, essentially giving you a huge window to find an alternative win condition. At least that way you'll have to work for your ultimate control effect. Flavorly, I would not have gotten the feeling of "Cultured Empire" if you didn't write it in your description. The image the card evokes is more of the "banquet were guests are compelled to eat uncontrollably" sorta life that scene in Spirited Away.
Yuanren Outlander - Invader is a lot to read for an ability word. It is very flavorful though. I fear that all it will amount to is creating a bunch of sideboard cards, since the odds that an opponent has a land that shares atype with you are not that low, and if there was a particularly strong invader creature, people would simply run the appropriate duals to prevent its ability. Unless your block is heavy on nobasic lands that would make invader a threat, its biggest merits lie solely in flavor. I'm also underwhelmed by your choice of card. This is the most basic use of invader there is. All it tells me is there are invaders, and that they are ape men. A legend would have been much more impressive. Also, do the ape men have no name for themselves except for "ape man"? (Just a nitpick, really)
Drunken Lunge - this is very out there in terms of design. I fear that it's like clash in that there is an psudo-random element that might deter players from using it. You get your card's worth only if the value is 3 or greater. I appreciate the creativity, but without playtesting I feel very uncertain about this card. Flavorly, it's kinda blank. It's a somewhat good counterpart to the civilized banquet of your first card, but the name and effects are pretty generic in my eyes.
Overall - I feel like you've put a lot of thought and given me your favorite cards, but I'm missing some key parts that you were privy to. I like the plane concept, and I feel that with some sanding a lot of the mechanics could work well, but the three cards don't give enough clues as to the whole picture. Bigger cards with more impact might have worked better for you.
I voted for Max, but it is interchangeable. We could decide to vote for ourselves, or have a three-way gentleman's vote, so you can vote for me, and Max can vote for you.
Asrama - I think the angel is pretty dangerous at this cost, it's on par with Platinum Angel since the only out is to kill them in one shot. The Call is pretty interesting, haven't really seen Bifurcate from the graveyard afaik. Lot of deckbuilding potential, although it would be more powerful as a reanimator if it could be single target and cost 4. The Restorer also has an interesting flow of creatures. I don't really get the idea of what is happening in your block mechanically, but the story is nice.
max - Seems like the first guy is more blue/black than green/blue to me, particularly in his description. The actual Drone card feels somewhat disjointed and doesn't make much of the transform mechanic. It would have been fine if it just had two abilities, one to add counters and one to spend them to hurt creatures. The connection to learning is also a little obscure. Seal Within Shards doesn't feel super seal-y (like Detention Orb maybe), and it's kind of weird how it works but could be good in my EDH meta.
Woohoo! Victory! extremely surprising considering my competition - Both GM and Max had very good design throughout the entire CCL, and I honestly didn't think my final three had what it takes to bet them.
Thanks Doombringer for running the contest, it was a lot of fun and with some interesting challenges.
As the Rama Turns - Gutsy choice to go with the high-level cycle across the sets, but people liked it. Tells the story as directly as possible, tells it well, and it's a solid story. First Miraya is too much power I think, that's a rather insurmountable lock to break if you can back her up. I feel like the indirect rez card would fit into WG more snugly but it's a very cool design. Restorer is so sweet, I love it. Best design of the three IMO.
Giraud's Aunt - Banquet is a sweet design for a control card and tells the story well. Very clever. The outlander is nice, that's a good mechanic for specific types of hosing and I believe it's got potential, great flavor. Lunge falls short of what I was hoping to see for the final set - why not a powerful hero among the commoners, as the description implied? It is another nice mechanic, however, I see potential here as well.
Congrats Asrama, I knew I didn't stand a chance but I do wish more votes had been cast by the community.
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The Challenge this round was to: Create 3 cards from 3 different sets from the same block. Use these cards to show the changes to the world as the story unfolds on your plane. You may use a new plane or one from a previous entry. Feel free to add a sentence or two about your plane.
Legendary Creature - Angel (MR)
Flying
At the end of each turn, you gain life equal to the life you’ve lost this turn. (Damage causes lost of life.)
"Of the angels who ruled before the Calamity, Miraya was the most loved. The mere sight of her alabaster wings would allay all pain and her touch would heal any wound"
-- The Writings of Witness Jeb
5/5
Set 2:
Miraya's Call X2WW
Sorcery (R)
Choose up to X creature cards in your graveyard. For each card chosen this way, search your library for a creature card with the same name as that card and put it into play. Then shuffle your library.
“All hope seemed lost, and yet Miraya refused to surrender. Answering her call, the mourners picked up the swords of their lost kin and rose to defend their homeland.”
— The Writing of Witness Jeb
Set 3:
Miraya the Restorer 3GG
Legendary Creature - Spirit (MR)
At the end of each turn, for each creature that was put into your graveyard from play this turn, you may put a creature card from your hand into play.
“The deal was set. Miraya was no longer an angel, and Eldagone was no longer desolate.”
— The Writings of Witness Jeb
5/5
Parthas, Grand Despot 2GU
Legendary Creature - Beast Wizard (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a 0/1 colorless Drone creature token onto the battlefield.
1U, Sacrifice X Drones: Gain control of target creature with converted mana cost X or less. It becomes a Drone in addition to its other types.
Mentally and physically imposing, Parthas’ cunning makes his coffers overflow with blood money.
3/4
Cunning Drone 1B
Creature - Drone (U)
T: Target attacking or blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn, and put a learning counter on Liberated Drone. Then, if there are two or more learning counters on Cunning Drone, transform it.
As the drones broke their mental bonds, they had to grasp any skill they could to survive.
1/1
//
Nameless Traprunner
(B) Creature - Drone Rogue (U)
Nameless Traprunner can’t be blocked.
1B, Remove a learning counter from Nameless Traprunner: Target attacking or blocking creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
"You allowed no identity to your slaves. Why do you ask who I am as you bleed?"
2/2
Seal Within Shards 2RW
Sorcery (R)
For each player, exile target creature that player controls and each creature among creatures he or she controls that shares a creature type with it.
Whether out of hatred for the drones or spite for the dominion they lost, the tyrants shattered Gauraina to seal themselves and their foes away.
Emperor's Banquet 1WW
Enchantment (R)
Creatures can't attack.
1: Target player gains 1 life. Any player may activate this ability.
At the end of each player's turn, if that player didn't gain life this turn, sacrifice Emperor's Banquet.
Yuanren Outlander 1G
Creature - Ape Barbarian (C)
Invader - Whenever Yuanren Outlander attacks a player, if that player controls no lands that share a land type with a land you control, Yuanren Outlander gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
"The wild howls of the ape men grow closer every day. Where are the Emperor's soldiers now?"
-Bao Fan, headman of Plum Mountain Village
2/2
Drunken Lunge R
Instant (U)
Choose target creature you control and put the top card of your library into your graveyard. Drunken Lunge's effect depends on the converted mana cost of the card revealed this way.
0 - Return Drunken Lunge to its owner's hand.
1-2 - That creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
3-4 - That creature gains double strike until end of turn.
5+ - Until end of turn, that creature gains "T: This creature fights target creature."
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Parthas, Grand Despot - Mechanically it's a wonderful bomb to open, and a great tight design all the parts work well together, including the hefty body. This could work well for both control and aggressive builds and hints at immense synergy within your set. The best design of your submission. Flavorly, I have some trouble with the "beast wizard" part - races like Aven or Leonin gives you some notion as to how they are going to look like even without the art, so saying "cat wizard" means something to the reader. "Beast" is a generic Magic word for "monster" and so I don't get a good feel of the creature from your submission. I'm assuming the race of beasts are the oppressive rulers, but no image is evoked in my mind.
Cunning Drone // Nameless Traprunner - I don't know the tempo enough to say if this is ok or not. A control-ish deck basically gets a double removal attached to a creature, which seems to me a bit too powerful for a 2 drop. I don't feel the mechanical tie between the two parts of the cards, I kind of want them both to be two separate cards in a set than one card with transform. Flavourly it is the strongest card you've submitted, giving a good sense of how the Drone uprising comes to fruition. Thanks to your description of the plane, I have better idea what the Drones are, and so the complaint I had about the beast subtype doesn't apply here. One thing though - I feel that transform was already used in this CCL, and would have liked to see a new mechanic instead.
Seal Within Shards - Alas, your final card is also the most underwhelming. Firstly, I think red is not the right choice here, since black is more fitting to both the exile part and "every permanent with the same name" part. Secondly, this card feels redundant where Maelstrom Pulse and Detention Sphere exist. Yes, the pulse doesn't exile and the sphere dies to Ratchet Bomb but then they cost one less mana and won't cost you creature. multiplayer interactions are not enough to sway me, since it most likely just make you the most hated person on the table anyways. Lastly, the conclusion that this card hints at is a pretty bad way to end a story. I feel as though rather than giving us a view of the conclusion, you've given us either a cliffhanger or a glimpse at some other part of the story, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also, are you hinting that Gauraina is some prelude to Alara? if so, that's awesome, but it doesn't actually comes across as much as I'd like.
Overall - I feel like you've got a good story, but one that you could not convey through the cards. Your designs don't break anything, at least, but only one of them really wowed me. Still, I like where you went, Gauraina could be an interesting set to flesh out.
Emperor's Banquet - My this is broken. All it needs is two extra mana, and you're safe from attacks forever on a regular duel. This is a control deck's dream. You really want to eliminate the lifegain clause. Even withouth it, cards like Grove of the Burnwillows can keep this alive for a very long time, essentially giving you a huge window to find an alternative win condition. At least that way you'll have to work for your ultimate control effect. Flavorly, I would not have gotten the feeling of "Cultured Empire" if you didn't write it in your description. The image the card evokes is more of the "banquet were guests are compelled to eat uncontrollably" sorta life that scene in Spirited Away.
Yuanren Outlander - Invader is a lot to read for an ability word. It is very flavorful though. I fear that all it will amount to is creating a bunch of sideboard cards, since the odds that an opponent has a land that shares atype with you are not that low, and if there was a particularly strong invader creature, people would simply run the appropriate duals to prevent its ability. Unless your block is heavy on nobasic lands that would make invader a threat, its biggest merits lie solely in flavor. I'm also underwhelmed by your choice of card. This is the most basic use of invader there is. All it tells me is there are invaders, and that they are ape men. A legend would have been much more impressive. Also, do the ape men have no name for themselves except for "ape man"? (Just a nitpick, really)
Drunken Lunge - this is very out there in terms of design. I fear that it's like clash in that there is an psudo-random element that might deter players from using it. You get your card's worth only if the value is 3 or greater. I appreciate the creativity, but without playtesting I feel very uncertain about this card. Flavorly, it's kinda blank. It's a somewhat good counterpart to the civilized banquet of your first card, but the name and effects are pretty generic in my eyes.
Overall - I feel like you've put a lot of thought and given me your favorite cards, but I'm missing some key parts that you were privy to. I like the plane concept, and I feel that with some sanding a lot of the mechanics could work well, but the three cards don't give enough clues as to the whole picture. Bigger cards with more impact might have worked better for you.
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
EDIT: Vote Cast ✓
Are you designing commons? Check out my primer on NWO.
Interested in making a custom set? Check out my Set skeleton and archetype primer.
I also write articles about getting started with custom card creation.
Go and PLAYTEST your designs, you will learn more in a single playtests than a dozen discussions.
My custom sets:
Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
Asrama - I think the angel is pretty dangerous at this cost, it's on par with Platinum Angel since the only out is to kill them in one shot. The Call is pretty interesting, haven't really seen Bifurcate from the graveyard afaik. Lot of deckbuilding potential, although it would be more powerful as a reanimator if it could be single target and cost 4. The Restorer also has an interesting flow of creatures. I don't really get the idea of what is happening in your block mechanically, but the story is nice.
max - Seems like the first guy is more blue/black than green/blue to me, particularly in his description. The actual Drone card feels somewhat disjointed and doesn't make much of the transform mechanic. It would have been fine if it just had two abilities, one to add counters and one to spend them to hurt creatures. The connection to learning is also a little obscure. Seal Within Shards doesn't feel super seal-y (like Detention Orb maybe), and it's kind of weird how it works but could be good in my EDH meta.
Congrats Asrama
Thanks Doombringer for running the contest, it was a lot of fun and with some interesting challenges.
Host, December 2015: A Winter Wonderland? - R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL April 2014: A Game of Fate - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinal|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL December 2012: Spy Games - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL November 2010: The Perfect Crime - Signup|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
Host, CCL August 2009: A Commander's Journey: Signups|R1|R2|R3|Top 8|Semifinals|Finals|Poll
I've got tons of art from the web. Want art for a render? PM me! Want to create your own collection? Start here!
As the Rama Turns - Gutsy choice to go with the high-level cycle across the sets, but people liked it. Tells the story as directly as possible, tells it well, and it's a solid story. First Miraya is too much power I think, that's a rather insurmountable lock to break if you can back her up. I feel like the indirect rez card would fit into WG more snugly but it's a very cool design. Restorer is so sweet, I love it. Best design of the three IMO.
Giraud's Aunt - Banquet is a sweet design for a control card and tells the story well. Very clever. The outlander is nice, that's a good mechanic for specific types of hosing and I believe it's got potential, great flavor. Lunge falls short of what I was hoping to see for the final set - why not a powerful hero among the commoners, as the description implied? It is another nice mechanic, however, I see potential here as well.
Congrats Asrama, I knew I didn't stand a chance but I do wish more votes had been cast by the community.